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Wicked fans probably had a rough idea of how things were going to play out in the second half of Elphaba's (Cynthia Erivo) and Galinda’s (Ariana Grande) story in Wicked: For Good. One detail that had evaded eagle-eyed fans until the final scene, however, was the final scene itself. Imitating the iconic poster for the original musical, we see Galinda whisper something in Elphaba’s ear, paying homage to what had come before. According to director Jon M. Chu, it was an essential shot that had always been on the cards for the story's closing chapter, and one he was determined to keep secret. The moment came at risk of being spoiled, though, thanks to the marketing department, which had plans for the scene itself.
“Yes. It was always the plan. I was always going to end on the whisper,” Chu explained to Variety. “Do you know how hard it was to force Universal to never use it in any marketing material? They even had a poster of it for the first movie, and I was like, ‘Why are we releasing this poster? We should never acknowledge the whisper. Never. Never.’”
The plan was to never even hint at the iconic image, so as to send audiences off the path (or the yellow brick road) for the time it would be used. “I wanted it to feel like we didn’t care about it, then suddenly it’s the last shot in For Good. So the studio never saw that final shot. I imposed a huge thing: ‘Do not show this shot!’ They wanted it so badly.”
The poster's history is unusual because the image it depicts never appeared in the original musical, making it even more impressive that Chu included it in his adaptation. “That poster is one of the most brilliant posters ever made. You don’t know what Glinda’s saying, because they never actually do that in the musical. But it’s sort of the key to friendship. That we have these secrets,” Chu said.
Regarding the whisper in the film, even he has been kept in the dark by his two stars from Oz. “And the girls got to choose what they are actually saying in the scene. I don’t even know what they said.” Maybe we’ll find out what was said, given that Universal is already considering heading back over the rainbow for more sequels. For more, check out our Wicked: For Good ending explained, or check out our list of movie release dates.
